It's warming up!

It’s starting to actually feel like spring out here. The sun is out and workouts are in full force. Plenty of bullpen sessions today from the same guys who threw two days ago (Penny, Tomko, Lowe, etc.) and lots more position players showing up and starting to take batting practice.

Tomorrow we should see the rest of the veterans here in preparation of Wednesday’s first full-squad workout.

Meanwhile, just like you all, a lot of our players and coaches are big sports fans outside of baseball. Derek Lowe went down to see the Daytona 500 yesterday from Jeff Gordon’s pit, which he said was a pretty cool experience. And last night, while many of us were hanging out in the Dodgertown lounge, Double-A pitching coach Danny Darwin was transfixed on the pro-bullriding event that was on ESPN. In fact, we have a former bull rider as part of our team – Stan Johnston, who is one of our trainers.

Another cool thing about Dodgertown is obviously the history we have here and last night, Signe Hilton, who is a member of our PR department, said that she felt like she was walking back 50 years in time just coming down the hallway that leads down to the lounge. It’s very true – there are great photos from the 50s on the walls and even the music sounds like it’s from that era. It’s just one of the neat things about this complex that hopefully all of you can experience in the next year or two.

And finally, don’t forget that tomorrow you can chat live on dodgers.com with Dodger closer Takashi Saito at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET.

That’s it for now. We’re eight days away from our first intrasquad game and nine days away from the first "real" pitch of the spring.

Did anyone hear the Dodger talk with Joe Beimel yesterday? I missed it and KFWB’s website doesn’t have anything up as of 9pm Monday. Josh – Any update on a webcam for Spring Training? Positive reactions or negative?

The tagline under this week’s Mailbag article which says “Andy LaRoche probably doesn’t have enough experience to play in L.A. this year” is one of the most misinformed, unintelligent opinions I’ve read on this site. It’s bad enough having to be reminded for the umpteenth time that LaRoche is coming off shoulder surgery – which, by the way, according to numerous sources including Andy himself, has completely healed – but for that beat writer to suggest that our top prospect isn’t ready for the big leagues after dominating Triple-A (.950 OPS; only 5 errors defensively) is ridiculous. We’re talking about someone with 377 professional games under his belt, where he’s put up power numbers that rank with anybody in our system (.292/.372/.513; 72 HRs).

This kid is a fierce competitor and takes great pride in his craft. If he earns the 3rd base job this Spring, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll be there for the next decade.

right on momoracci, you can only do so much in triple a before your overall value diminishes. i agreed with one of peter gammons comments regarding laroche, the guy just steps on the field and looks like a ball player, its in his blood and hes definitely more than capable of at least platooning with betemit considering his lopsided stats from the right side. i guess spring training and spring training alone will tell us if andy laroche is ready according to gurnick. some of his views are borderline and completely understand hes not supposed to be a fan, but also realize that i dont think ive read a flat out optimistic statement from him, which is bothersome.geez, I cant wait until i hear an umpire yell play ball.

its funny to read you tell u to go to Dodgertown to experience all that history when the team is nullifying all of that supposed history by moving ST to a fancy soulless shared “complex” devoid of the very history you write about. that was nice. really.

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